On August 21, the Digital Low Altitude Working Group (DLA WG) of the FuTURE Mobile Communication Forum held its first WG leaders meeting in Beijing. This conference was hosted by China Telecom and attended by nearly 50 professors and experts from the communications and low-altitude fields across the country. They formulated strategic directions and plans for the development of the domestic information field in digital low altitude and the establishment of a digital low-altitude economy foundation.

The meeting was presided by Wu Jianjun, Deputy Secretary-General of the FuTURE Mobile Communication Forum. Bi Qi, Chairman of the DLA WG, Chief Scientist of China Telecom Corp Ltd. and academician of Nokia Bell Labs in the United States, made specific suggestions for the work. He said that the goal of the DLA WG is to promote standardization and commercial applications for the low-altitude industry, to ensure the seamless integration of technologies, specifications and facilities in the national information sector, and to build a digital foundation for the low-altitude economy. Three Vice Chairmen of the working group, including Professor Wu Qihui from Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Dean Liu Rongke from Shenzhen Institute of Beihang University, and Chih-Lin I, Chief Scientist at China Mobile Research Institute, also gave concrete advice and suggestions on the goals and work of the working group.

The meeting held in-depth discussions and formulated a specific work plan for digital low-altitude communication and information work. Zhou Jing, Director of the Ubiquitous Terminal Research Center of the China Unicom Research Institute, presented the application scenarios and requirements on four levels: Platform, Infrastructure, Terminal and Service, based on the requirements of sustainability, operability and controllability. Meng Xi from the China Telecom Research Institute made suggestions for the 4G and 5G system spectrum. She proposed consulting widely with the world and summarizing beneficial advice for low-altitude development based on international trends. Jin Jing, Technical Manager from the China Mobile Research Institute, proposed improving the precision of network sensing through AI and integrated sensing and communication, and introduced the current progress in integrated sensing and communication. Sheng Min, Director/Professor of the State Key Laboratory of Xidian University, focused on network architecture design and introduced the work plan for network architecture. Shen Wenbin, Chief Expert of low-altitude unmanned technology of China Telecom, introduced the progress of Suzhou's low-altitude supervision platform and formulated a work plan based on domestic low-altitude needs; Su Li, Deputy Director of the Safety Technology Institute of China Mobile Research Institute, said that safety is the foundation of the low-altitude economy and that it is necessary to work closely with other working groups to design safe and endogenous solutions. Li Xi, Deputy General Manager and CTO of Shenzhen Urban Transport Planning Center, introduced the progress and experience of Shenzhen's low-altitude work and further proposed a work plan and goals. Zhang Rui, Deputy Chief Engineer of the Intellectual Property and Innovation Development Center of China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, also introduced successful experiences in testing and verification, and proposed work expectations and timetables for the low-altitude goals, details, and the formulation of corresponding test specifications.

There was a lively discussion at the meeting about the importance of industry cooperation in the field of digital low-altitude. The heads from various sectors unanimously agreed that low-altitude is an industry with a long industrial chain, involving air traffic control, civil aviation, UAV manufacturing, networks, platforms, applications, and other fields. It is necessary to promote the standardization of infrastructure and communication systems through cross-sector cooperation to meet diverse needs. As an important consensus of this meeting, the working group clarified its work goals for the next six months and planned to output initial research achievements of digital low-altitude in the first quarter of next year. The leading role of digital low-altitude in the low-altitude economy should be further strengthened and standardization and regularization should be promoted throughout the industry.

This meeting is a good start for the working group. The FuTURE Mobile Communication Forum worked closely with all participating entities and looked forward to leading the trend of the digital low-altitude industry. The aim is to lay the foundation for the comprehensive development of the low-altitude economy in the communications field and to provide a valuable cooperation platform for countrywide experts and scholars in the information and low-altitude industries.